Catch the game at Bay View Sports Bar & Grill

If you're still looking for a great spot to take in the Packers Playoffs games, a new bar in Bay View should prove worthy. It's called, simply, Bay View Sports Bar & Grill and it opened at 2327 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. in late 2009 in the former Dee's Wine Stop space.

Sports lovers are sure to be in their comfort zone here. The four plasma screens (and more are on their way) broadcast "the game" in every direction, there's a pool table, darts and other bar games and the walls are detailed with the numbers and lines of a football field.

Owner John Karearis even brought in his personal collection of sports memorabilia to decorate, including a 1957 Milwaukee Braves pennant with all the players' names and what used to be his crown jewel: an official Packers helmet signed by Brett Favre. The helmet still sits prominently in its case above the bar but Karearis admits he's turned it around so that the now-controversial autograph faces back.

But as the name suggests, the Bay View Sport Bar & Grill serves up more than just drinks. It's got a decently-sized menu that begins with appetizers like jalapeno poppers, potato skins, nachos and his top seller, a two-lb. basket of chicken wings for $7.95. The wings come in three flavors: plain, mild and "extreme hot," which incorporates (owners) own secret hot sauce recipe.

The remainder of the menu is rounded out with a Friday night fish fry, burgers, salads and other typical bar food. A stand out, he says, is his Mexican-style gyro, another vehicle for his hot saucedistribution.

The bar itself is actually connected to its neighbor, the Midwest Diner, via the kitchen, which prepares the fare for both the bar and the diner, which Karearis has owned since its days on 7th and Wisconsin Ave. He has owned the restaurant's current Bay View building for 17 years.

The bar actually takes up the space of two storefronts along Kinnickinnic; the former wine shop and its immediate neighbor to the north, which Dee's owner Deanne Wecker had hoped to transform into a wine tasting room. Karearis conjoined the two, but left a just enough wall to create a natural boundary between the bar area and the pool table.

Bay View Sports Bar is open daily. Monday through Wednesday it opens at 5 p.m. and Thursday through Sunday it opens at 10 a.m. with a cocktail hour (featuring two-for-one drinks) lasting until 6 p.m. on the weekends. And if you play your cards right, there are more specials in store. Any time any Wisconsin team plays, beer specials include $2 Bud and Bud Light and $1.50 taps. Plus, there are the requisite complementary shots for every Packers touchdown. Go team.

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Talkbacks

I play softball for the Highbury on Monday nights. What an awesome bar. Never open on Mondays to let us spend our money there so we went to the Bay View sports bar instead almost every game this year. We pay $8 a pitcher and apparently $5 a shot. We ordered 6 shots of Crown and I used my debit. The bartender was pretty drunk and asked one of the other people on my team if we wanted another round and started pouring. I was never asked if I wanted to put it on my tab but I was charged anyway. I received my tab and it was $30 for 6 shots. Or else I was charged for the second round we all thought was on the bar. We have been coming in almost every week for the last month and a half and now the drunk bartendress just puts extra charges on my card? Also one of the team ordered a burger and a pitcher and the bill was over $20. The burger was like $7 so the pitcher was 13.50? She had no clue what she was doing and later came back and gave him $4 back saying she thinks she overcharged him. I mean seriously?

I went there Friday night to try it out because I like to support the different businesses in the neighborhood. Walked in sat down and were ignored by the 2 bartenders because they were too busy flirting with a couple of guys at the bar. I guess it was the owner who noticed and said "Can someone wait on them?" One of the bartenders said "Oh I didn't even noticed that someone walked in." That was kinda hard to do considering we were the only customer sitting at a table. Drinks came quick. It's hard to screw up a soda and a PBR. Menu is as basic as it gets for a bar but it is nothing to brag about. We had the Fish Fry - NOT GOOD, Potato Skins - FAIR TO POOR, and the 12 Wings - OKAY. Fish is not fresh, frozen out of the box. Skins barely any potato and too much of the fake bacon bits. Wings were actually a good size and maybe fried a minute too long. But for spending $30 I expected more. I'll probably keep going to the diner next door because the customer service is 1000% better. I'll never go back to the Sports Bar because the customer service sucked. After spending the week working and wanting to enjoy a decent beer and drink on a Friday night that is all I really wanted. Bad Service makes the food taste bad. Hire better people and I might come back.

This bar is completely out of place in Bayview, it would be much better suited in West Allis or a part of Milwaukee that cares for cheesy theme bars. The "concept" as a whole brings very little to the table unless that's an undesirable clientele and gimmicks. In an area of Milwaukee that thrives on craft beer, art and kitsch this bar sticks out like a blackhead.

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